Britain’s best knitter C4

[2Rebecca]

With Tom Daley who annoys me but I like that it’s proper knitting not dumbed down and they’re starting with a fairisle tank top

I thought the knits the judges were wearing were pretty awful. I find it hard to believe they are top designers though I’m sure they are good at knitting. I agree about the comments about the huge needles and lack of finesse but did wonder how they were going to manage to show progress with knitting in this format.

Oh dear. How many more shows are they going to squeeze out with the same formula?!
I don’t mind Tom Daley (even looking like he’d been in the dressing up box trying to find a gladiator outfit). The 2 women judges were awful; what’s all this story crap, and crying larky. Bloody get a grip.

Im not sure I’ll get as far as the second episode..

I enjoyed it.

Yeah, it’ll either have to be chunky or very very small😆

It was an ok show. A bit of a novelty to see knitting being showcased, having been an avid knitter since I was about 8. Crochet grows more quickly, so maybe that would make for a better show. I will keep watching. Not terribly impressed at the idea of knitting for dogs next week. I really dislike it when people dress up their pets. I agree with pp that a segment about the history of knitting might be interesting. Or maybe something about the two judges’ collaborations with fashion designers.

I found the whole thing a bit bizarre - Tom Daley in a vest trying on tank tops then wearing a shapeless knitted version of Joseph's multi coloured dream coat. I can't see this becoming the next Bake Off.

Thanks, I was more asking what advantages it might have, found this article which was informative.

😱 Why would someone CUT through their knits?!

In agreement with most people. They were trying to make it interesting, but every challenge was chunky wool. It was like knitting with two broomsticks!
Knitting shouldn't be a time challenge, (although the Sewing Bee is similar, it's much easier to finish the garments).
Poor old Gordon was depressing and Holger was as miserable as sin, constantly complaining.
I might give it another week, but it's hard work trying to enjoy it 😦

I so agree. It’s the same with Bake Off. Middle aged and older women are by far the largest demographic for baking. This year I think Bake Off had five or six gay men out of what was it, 14? 15? Contestants?
I love to see a competent older woman on these shows - like Nancy’s few years ago. She wiped the floor with them all!

It was beyond tedious. I couldn’t stand to look at that thing Tom Daley was wearing. Horrible colours, badly knitted, badly finished. And the orange cardi worn by one of the judges looked like it had never been blocked.

Same old same old, silly little hobby when women do it, exciting job when a man does it. Siiiigh.

It's fine for watching while knitting 🤣 but it's definitely not riveting TV. I'm a new knitter so hoping to learn through it (and reading threads after!!].

I thought it was weird. Is the team challenge a weekly thing? I don't want to knit in a team. I like knitting by myself.

I liked some of their tank tops. I'm knitting a more.traditional fair isle tank top myself right now and it's taking me for ever. Maybe I should have gone for 20mm needles instead of the 3mm I'm using. I'd be finished by now.

I sympathised with the poor man who said he just couldn't get on with knitting with big thick needles.

Before the show came on I couldn't see you you could get over the fact that knitting just takes a lot of time, and sadly it doesn't look like this show has found the answer to that. Knitting just doesn't lend itself to getting together in teams for big projects - who the hell knits a sofa cover anyway?

Fuck me what's next? Britain's Best Drying Tin Of Paint? If watching people knit is a ratings winner we bloody deserve to be invaded by Russia. And China. And fucking Tuvalu.

🤣🤣

Don worry, we can fight them off with our giant telegraph pole knitting needles😅

There is no reason why they shouldn't be able to make a show out of knitting in the same was as Portrait artist of the year, bake off, sewing bee.

I think they just misjudged the challenge on the first one, and knitting for dogs similarly niche. Would have been better to have let them loose in a sewing bee style yarn shop - tell them they have 6 hours or whatever for a knitted beanie hat, needs to incorporate a specific design style like cables or stranded colourwork or whatever, leave the choice of yarn up to them.

Because it’s easier to just keep knitting round and round rather than have to divide and switch to back and forth and do the front and back separately.
Steeking works for proper Fairisle because the type of wool traditionally used (fine, quite fuzzy) doesn’t unravel easily and in any case knit tends not to unravel when cut vertically the way it does when cut horizontally- that’s why a hole often turns into a ladder rather than just a bigger hole.
The smooth chunky wool they used wasn’t ideal for steeking but perhaps that was the technique he was used to and felt comfortable with.

I have seen several posts on Facebook from Shetlanders and traditional Fair Isle knitters very angry about how their heritage craft has been misrepresented on tv.

The Dot Sweater. Pattern is by Knitting for Olive.

It's not the contestants' fault - but knitting Fair Isle on big needles with chunky yarn isn't going to turn out anything attractive, or make for interesting TV.

This programme feels so misconceived

I do like the traffic cone hat - that is definitely a Glasgow icon.

They probably should have started with the dog task last week. Britain's best knitter is really misnamed especially now they're doing crochet.

Apparently the Fair Isle knitters' association was up in arms about the misrepresentation of Fair Isle patterns last week. Also that in some social media postings C4 called it Fair Aisle.

Would any dog owner seriously ever put one of those stupid hats on their pet?

I thought the same when I saw the trailers - hundreds of years of almost exclusively women knitting, competently and quietly. As soon as one famous man decides to knit, it becomes a show on telly - and I thought the knitting looked awful. I didn't watch the show.

It never fails to surprise me what some people will put on their poor innocent pets😆 I really want to give the second episode a chance but am mightily pissed off at the fancy dress for dogs. Too bloody whimsical and turning genuine skill and creativity into a bit of a joke. It’s like asking the bake off contestants to make cream pies to throw. Just a sad waste.

It also puzzles me that no-one seems to have even the facilities to press their work. Those jumpers would have looked quite a lot better if they had been pressed, and last week I was thinking it must have been quite a struggle putting those strips of knitting together for the sofa cover when the ends were all curling inwards.

Who is devising the challenges for this thing? Crochet swimwear and a deckchair cover?? FFS.